CORRESPONDENCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1917, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

LTGHti-N OUR DARKNESS

( To tlie Editor

Sir, —We have in this toy 11 a Gas Company, presumably formed for the purpose of supplying tho public with gas—-or perhaps it would be morn correct to, says it was formed for the purpose of earning satisfactory dividends foi: its shareholders by supplying the public with gas—and we have also a resident who, having recently purchased a cottage,- wishes to he supplied with gas. On the surface this looks like “good business” but on the application to this company for a connection tliis would-be consumer was told thai* tho Gas Co. is not looking for new con- . nections these times, and in pressing the matter further.he informed mo that the only clianec. of getting the gas is to give the Company a guarantee that be, will be a liberal consumer or pay the Company £3 6s. for a connection which should cost him a trine under £l, a neighbour having recently had a similar connection for 18s, As is usual this Company is in the habit of conveying the gas one .chain from the nearest pipe free and there is a gas pipe the other side of the road. , The reason for this extra charge is that- there is a dip in the centre of the road which would necessitate the bending of tlie pipes—an operation that is not always satisfactory. To avoid this difficulty tlie Company proposed to another man! 100 odd feet away, but they proposed tlie woukl-bc-yonsumpi' “pay tho piper.” This cannot by , any stretch of imagination he . considered liberal treatment, hi fact it is nui> “business,” but bur .man recognising the disadvantage of crossing the road at this particular point and wishing to be offers to pay £2 for a connection, fairly dividing tho extra cost with tlie Company. Gas companies do not charge their consumers a bight irate in any one particular locality became of any little extra,cost of laying the, mains in I hat locality—it would not be “business.’’ Nor do Bailway Goriipariies charge their companies a higher rate for taking them over a river, through a tunnel, or over any other extra costly part of their line it would not be “busi

ness.” Now our would-be-consumer happens to he a qualified accountant and having had to set* to the lighting of important.business premises for several years in tlie 3d largest towns in the Dominion lie should be a fair judge of what was reasonable or otherwise, and his decided opinion is that the attitude taken by the Gas Company was a most nnbusiness like one. The company’s experts contend that if this would-be-consumer only paid £2 toward the cost, that the connection would he an unprofitable; out*. As a matter of fact the motor rent of 6s. a year that would have been paid by the consumer would have paid the Company 6£% on their total outlay—including cost ot tiielel—' and in the gas consumed they would have 33% profit. These figures by the way , are based oh the reports given by the company’s own experts. The guarantee of consumption, asked foi- was considered both unreasonable and unbusinesslike. If a business mail is willing to spend £6 ih his house for gas fitting and pay the company £2 for a connection it is only - reasonable to presume that he is going to use soma gas. Mark Twain is credited with having said that tiie population of the world was bout 2,(100,000,000, mostly fools, and there is no law to prevent a man who has no use for gas from decorating (?) his house with gas fittings, [but that is surely a contingency scarcely worth considering. At this stage the matter was brought before the directors of the Company, and this august body after giving tlie matter their most careful consideration evidently decided that the quotation given £3 6s. was too high, and generously decided in a reduction of the odd 6s. -To Gods and ill tie fishes. Imagine their liorror and disgust when told that their magnanimous, offer “was hot good enough.” Tis true and pity tis true .iiiat this would-be-eonsliinor is compelled to re-

main in outer darkness, trie workriieii arc (lone out (if their job, arid tlie • shareholders of trio Coihjiariy lose their prospective “divy.” "V If the 10/- it thousand licit now charged hv the Company does not pay tricni —and it should pay theiri Well, inasmuch as our would-be-consumer only paid 5/6 a thousand in Nelson 25 years ago—Then would it not he more business-like to. c-hafge a trifle. 11101 c rather thilu decline business, arid by so doing “Kill tlie. Goose that lays tin Goldcri eggs.” Is it possible trial the Directors of this Company have inn lie-aid tlie recipe For liiiVe sorip wliiel begins witli “Tii-st catch yori'i- Hare.” Mlt is quite edifying to hear tlie Directors oftheCompany talk about popularising the Company .and hear their respectful critioLm of the “conservative methods” of some of the old time Directors, hut surely the mantle of Elijah.has fallen on his servant Elisha. Thanking you for the use of your valuable space.—l am, etc. STILL IN THE DARK. CMWWWBWWBWBMMi